With about a quarter of the 2014-15 season gone, we’re running a series on RMNB about where the Caps stand and where they’re heading. I’ve already gone into some detail, and I’ll have more analysis and opinion coming in the next few days, but for now let’s take a bird’s eye view.

Forgive me, I’m about to draw some pretty broad conclusions.

The Capitals are mediocre, but keep reading.

At scoring, they’re neither good or bad; they’re just about even. They’ve got a coin flip’s chance at making the playoffs.

But the Caps’ goaltending and shooting are both below average and are both likely to get better. The Caps are outshooting their opponents convincingly, suggesting that they’ll start outscoring their opponents in the future, although the team will continue to get into trouble when protecting a lead.

Special teams look stable. Washington’s power play is second best in the league and looks to remain that way. The penalty kill is in the middle of the league, and projects to stay there as well.

In short, the Capitals’ record is unremarkable, but there are encouraging signs below the surface– and the team has opportunity and motive to get even better.

The Basics

Possession

Score-adjusted corsi– how many shot-attempts belong to the Capitals during 5v5, weighted by the score of the game

10th

League rank in score-adjusted possession

53.6%

Possession when the score is tied, 6th in the league

45.5%

Possession when the Capitals are leading by one goal, 15th in the league

Scoring and Saving

Scoring

Saving

7.68%

Shooting percentage during 5v5, below average and 17th in the league

90.54%

Save percentage during 5v5, below average and 26th in the league

98.22

PDO, the sum of scoring and saving, to indicate the predominantly luck-driven distance between possession and goals

26th

League rank in PDO, which is not considered a talent-driven stat

Offense and Defense

Shots Generated

Shots Suppressed

53.45

Shot attempts per 60 minutes during 5v5

20th

League rank in generating offense

49.54

Opponent shot attempts allowed per 60 minutes during 5v5

6th

League rank in shot suppression

Special Teams

Power Play

Penalty Kill

25.4%

Power-play conversion rate, 2nd best in the league

82.30%

Penalty kill rate, 14th in the league

128.27

Shot attempts generated per 60 during power play, best in the league

100.37

Shot attempts allowed per 60 during penalty kill, 14th in the league

That’s it. I know there’s been a lot of passionate discussion on Facebook and Twitter about where the Capitals sit in each of these categories– a calibration of sorts. These are the facts, as best we understand them. To me, these all hint that the Capitals will climb the standings soon, but we shall see.